{"id":450,"date":"2016-07-17T09:33:22","date_gmt":"2016-07-16T21:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/?p=450"},"modified":"2016-07-17T09:33:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-16T21:33:22","slug":"wysiwyg-followers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/2016\/07\/17\/wysiwyg-followers\/","title":{"rendered":"WYSIWYG Followers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Lamp on a Stand<\/em>
\n 21\u00a0He said to them, \u201cDo you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don\u2019t you put it on its stand? 22\u00a0For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23\u00a0If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.\u201d<\/em>
\n 24\u00a0\u201cConsider carefully what you hear,\u201d he continued. \u201cWith the measure you use, it will be measured to you\u2014and even more. 25\u00a0Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.\u201d<\/em>
\n Mark 4:21\u201325 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the criticisms of church is that we are a bunch of hypocrites
\n(What you see is not what we are) – What do you think of this ?<\/p>\n

Are we by nature hypocrites?
\n– Read Romans 7:21-25.
\n(NIV) 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God\u2019s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!<\/em>
\nSo then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God\u2019s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.<\/em>
\nIs Paul struggling to be what he believes ?
\nDoes this make him hypocrite ?<\/p>\n

The Mark passages suggests that what is hidden will one day be brought into the open. Is this a cry to be WYSIWYG christians (What you see is what you get).<\/p>\n

What does that look like :
\nRead Brueggemann’s\u2019 prayer together and discuss and pray together.
\nGo where the conversation takes you. If you get lost pray the Lord\u2019s prayer together.<\/p>\n

The priest says, “Almighty God . . . from whom no secrets are<\/em>
\nhid.”<\/em>
\nWe rush to the next phrase but now linger there.<\/em>
\nWe are rich conundrums of secrets,<\/em>
\nwe weave a pattern of lies in order to be<\/em>
\nwell thought of,<\/em>
\nwe engage in subterfuge about our truth.<\/em>
\nWe carry old secrets too painful to utter,<\/em>
\ntoo shameful to acknowledge,<\/em>
\ntoo burdensome to bear,<\/em>
\nof <\/em>failures we cannot undo,<\/em>
\nof alienations we regret but cannot fix,<\/em>
\nof grandiose exhibits we cannot curb.<\/em>
\nAnd you know them.<\/em>
\nYou know them all.<\/em>
\nAnd so we take a deep sigh in your presence,<\/em>
\nno longer needing to pretend and<\/em>
\ncover up and<\/em>
\ndeny.<\/em>
\nWe mostly do not have big sins to confess,<\/em>
\nonly modest <\/em>shames that <\/em>do not<\/em>
\nfit our hoped-for selves.<\/em><\/p>\n

And then we find that your knowing is more<\/em>
\npowerful than our secrets.<\/em>
\nYou know and do not turn away,<\/em>
\nand our secrets that seemed too powerful<\/em>
\nare emptied of strength,<\/em>
\nsecrets that seemed too burdensome<\/em>
\nare now less severe.<\/em><\/p>\n

We marvel that when you find us out<\/em>
\nyou stay with us,<\/em>
\ntaking us seriously,<\/em>
\ntaking our secrets soberly,<\/em>
\nbut not ultimately,<\/em>
\noverpowering our little failure<\/em>
\nwith your massive love<\/em>
\nand abiding patience.<\/em><\/p>\n

We long to be <\/em>fully, honestly<\/em>
\nexposed to your gaze of gentleness.<\/em>
\nIn the moment of your knowing<\/em>
\nwe are eased and lightened,<\/em>
\nand we feel the surge of joy move in our bodies,<\/em>
\nbecause we are not ours in cringing<\/em>
\nbut yours in communion.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are yours and find the truth before you<\/em>
\nmakes us free for<\/em>
\nwonder, love, and praise\u2014and new life.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Lamp on a Stand 21\u00a0He said to them, \u201cDo you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don\u2019t you put it on its stand? 22\u00a0For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23\u00a0If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.\u201d 24\u00a0\u201cConsider carefully what you hear,\u201d he continued. \u201cWith the measure you use, it will be measured to you\u2014and even more. 25\u00a0Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.\u201d Mark 4:21\u201325 (NIV) One of the criticisms of church is that we are a bunch of hypocrites (What…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451,"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions\/451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.parklands.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}